District education office releases names of 872 youth involved in crime in southeastern Turkey

DİYARBAKIR

Following the reactions against the list being shared, Bağlar Education Office head Hacı Ali Çelik was suspended from his post.

A district office of the Diyarbakır Provincial Education Directorate has controversially released the names and personal information of a total of 872 youths who were involved in crime or subjected to sexual harassment on its website.

Diyarbakır police reportedly delivered the 25-page list concerning the youths, which includes their addresses, identity information as well as the names of their parents, to the Bağlar Education Directorate, in an effort to gather information about their education.

The Bağlar office sent the list to the schools in the district to determine which schools the children were attending. The office also shared the list on its website, where it stayed available for public access for one day.

The children were reportedly categorized in three lists, including 410 for whom a procedural act was launched, 416 who worked or were forced to work on the streets, and 46 who were subjected to sexual abuse.

Following the reactions to the list being shared, Bağlar Education Office head Hacı Ali Çelik was suspended from his post upon an order from Education Minister Nabi Avcı, the Diyarbakır Governor’s Office said in a statement on Jan. 14, according to Anadolu Agency.

The governor’s office added that an investigation had been opened and inspectors were assigned to probe the incident.

The list was delivered to the Bağlar Education Office as a part of efforts to ensure that the children, who had been absent from their schools due to criminal reasons, were continuing to receive education, the governor’s office also said.